In order to stimulate wearables and facilitators to apply to WEAR Sustain, a launching event was organized in Barcelona on 20 and 21 April.

On Thursday 20 April, Gioannino Malossi (Blumine, member of the WEAR consortium) spoke about the possibilities for teams of artists, designers, tech experts and engineers to come up with convincing ethical, innovative, and durable solutions in wearables and e-textiles. Oscar Tomico (Wearable Senses Laboratory, Eindhoven University of Technology) gave a presentation.

On Friday 21 April, leading experts in wearable technology and electronic textiles came together to discuss the latest in how these wearables and textiles can be ethical and durable. Those are two boundary conditions the EU has set in the WEAR Sustain call.

WEAR Sustain

WEAR Sustain is open to proposals dedicated to art, design, technology, and business, that include partners cooperating in ethical, innovative, durable wearables and smart solutions in textile-applications. Next to creatives, WEAR Sustain is also looking for mentors and experts to facilitate and bring in expertise such as data models, design thinking, business models, and more.

In total 48 teams will be selected to develop their prototypes. These will be set as examples for how wearables and smart textiles should be durable and ethical. The prototypes have to be ready late 2018, when they will be displayed in an exhibition. This will be accompanied by a report on durable strategies and a guidebook for consumers, entrepreneurs, and other professional to raise awareness of the challenges of production and use of wearable technics. The goal of this project is to stimulate development of the best practices in this area, and to create creative methods for wearables and smart textiles.